2020-2021 INNOVATORS

JULIA BEVAN

Court Observation Coordinator – Tahirih Justice Center (Houston, TX) / New York University School of Law

Julia Bevan served as the Court Observation Coordinator at Tahirih Justice Center where she researched both how COVID-19 affected justice in immigration courts and in immigration detention centers.

Julia Bevan is originally from Wayne, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. In May of 2020, she graduated summa cum laude from Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, PA with a joint major in Government and Religious Studies and a Minor in Arabic. During her time at F&M, Julia was a writing center tutor, a teaching assistant in both the Government and Arabic departments, a board member for the Black Pyramid Senior Honors Society, and a member of the Varsity Squash team.

For the last 3 years, Julia worked with her faculty advisor and attorneys in New York City to prepare asylum cases. In addition to working on 5 cases herself, Julia also served as a teaching assistant, helping to oversee and facilitate 13 other cases. In 2018, Julia received the Solomon Wank Ph.D Memorial Peace and Human Rights Research Award which funded her work with her advisor on the Franklin and Marshall Global Barometer of Gay Rights®. Through this award, Julia performed research on the human rights protectiveness of 26 countries and travelled to Serbia to conduct interviews with grassroots activists alongside her advisor. In 2021 Julia will be enrolled at NYU Law School. In her free time, she enjoys baking sourdough bread and walking her brother’s dog.

CALEB GREENE

Coordinator, Youth Leadership Program – Aspen Institute (Washington, D.C.) / University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School

Caleb Greene served as the Coordinator for the Youth Leadership Program at the Aspen Institute where he supported both the Aspen Youth Leaders Fellowhip and the Aspen Challenge program, programs aimed at assisting high school and college-aged students garner their skills.

In May 2020, Caleb Greene graduated summa cum laude from Louisiana State University after spending three years writing and serving as the editor in chief of the student newspaper, The Reveille. He will attend the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School after participating in the Weil Legal Innovators program, where he plans to study environmental law with a focus on environmental justice. A quirky thing he’s done in the past year is travel Iowa with a group of friends during the caucus season. They travelled across the Hawkeye State, attending campaign events, speaking with voters and interviewing candidates on behalf of local Louisiana newspapers.

HARVEY LOU

Impact Manager – Earthwatch Institute (Boston, MA) / University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School

Harvey Lou served as the Impact Manager at Earthwatch Institute where he collected and shared climate data to help tailor Earthwatch’s corporate social responsibility partnerships.

Harvey comes from the hometown of Plano, Texas, a suburb near the Dallas metroplex. He graduated from The University of Texas at Austin as an economics major and will attend The University of Pennsylvania for law school in the fall of 2021. Throughout his time in college, he was an editor for the Texas Undergraduate Law Review, served as vice president in the Texas Business Law Association, and participated as an officer in Well Aware, a philanthropic organization dedicated to finding sustainable water solutions for villages in East Africa. During his spare time, he loves to read books, exercise, and go hiking. Harvey hopes that he’s able to contribute to the best of his abilities as an inaugural Weil Legal Innovator for The Earthwatch Institute.

RACHEL MARANDETT

Post-Conviction Litigation Paralegal – Innocence Project (New York, NY) / New York University School of Law

Rachel Marandett served as the Post-Conviction Litigation Paralegal at Innocence Project where she supported ongoing cases by providing communication and advocacy to her clients.

Prior to joining the Weil Legal Innovators Program as a Post-Conviction Litigation Paralegal at the Innocence Project, Rachel Marandett graduated from Pomona College in the Class of 2020 with a degree in Religious Studies, a concentration in Peace and Conflict Analysis, and a minor in Middle Eastern Studies. There she completed a thesis titled "National Legitimacy and the Fallacies of Secularism: How US Secular Discourse is Utilized to Shape Perceptions of Israeli and Palestinian National Identities," which won the Middle Eastern Studies Thesis Award. She has studied in both Morocco and the Czech Republic where she focused on Islamic and Jewish studies respectively. Additionally, Rachel interned in human rights law and genocide prevention at the De Novo Law Group in Boston and Genocide Watch in Washington DC. She will begin her legal studies at New York University School of Law as an Institute for International Law and Justice Fellow in the fall of 2021.

MAEVE O'BRIEN

Communications Associate – Human Rights Watch (New York, NY) / New York University School of Law

Maeve O’Brien served as the Communications Associate at Human Rights Watch where she tracked, evaluated and improved HRW’s media strategy and presence.

Maeve O’Brien is originally from Columbus, Ohio, and is a graduate of the University of Michigan. On campus, she was involved in student journalism through her work at The Michigan Daily, as well as sexual assault prevention activism. She spent her senior year researching and writing an honors thesis on how U.S. self-defense laws affect women who kill their abusive intimate partners in self-defense. Maeve has previously worked in news media as an intern for CNN, and is excited to join the communications division of Human Rights Watch. After the Weil Legal Innovators Program, she is headed to NYU School of Law in 2021. Outside of her professional and academic life, Maeve is interested in fashion, creative writing, sustainability, and music and concert-going.

ANNE PFEIFENBERGER

Ashoka Support for Entrepreneurs (ASE) Coordinator – Ashoka (Washington, D.C.) / New York University School of Law

Anne Pfeifenberger served as the Ashoka Support for Entrepreneurs (ASE) Coordinator at Ashoka where she worked with the ASE Fellows to foster change across various issue areas, from environmental to immigrant and women’s issues.

After growing up in Boston, Anne attended Skidmore College until 2018, when she graduated with majors in Political Science and Environmental Studies, her focus being international environmental policy. Since then, she’s worked at Weil, Gotshal & Manges as a Securities Litigation Paralegal on both department and pro bono matters. Her time at Weil confirmed that she wanted to pursue a law career focused on environmental and humanitarian issues. Hearing about the Innovator's Program, she knew that it perfectly fit the work she wanted to do in the future and have the opportunity to make a meaningful impact before attending law school. In her spare time, Anne enjoys cooking and baking, sewing costumes, drawing, traveling and salsa dancing.

CASSIDY SHAPIRO

Legal Associate – Human Rights Watch (New York, NY) / Duke University School of Law

Cassidy Shapiro served as the Legal Associate in the General Counsel Office at Human Rights Watch where she supported initiatives such as HRW’s Continuing Legal Education program and researched a variety of human rights and legal issues.

Cassidy Shapiro graduated from UC San Diego with a double major in International Relations and Global Health. She is passionate about health equity, human rights, and breaking down complex sociocultural systems to better understand the sources of health disparities and rights violations. In her time at UCSD, her desire to explore other cultures took her to Italy as an Au Pair, to France to compete in an international moot court competition, and to Russia for a conference focused on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. In San Diego, Cassie volunteered with the Department of Public Health to assist in a cultural competency project that aimed to increase the quality of health care received by refugee populations in the county. With UCSD, she also served as the president for the International Studies Student Association, an assistant for visa application filings for international fellows, and a frequent volunteer with the Braille Institute for the Visually Impaired. Since graduating, she has worked as a data analyst, as well as a paralegal with a social-justice oriented plaintiff litigation firm. Following her year with WLI, Cassie will pursue her JD and LL.M. in International & Comparative Law at Duke University. In her free time she loves to practice yoga, run long distances, explore farmers markets, and read poetry.

CARLY WEST

Legal Associate, Migrant Rights – Oxfam (Boston, MA) / Columbia Law School

Carly served as the Legal Associate for Migrant Rights at Oxfam America where she developed strategies to combat unjust and discriminatory policies against migrants and refugees.

Carly was born and raised in New York City, and has had a passion for international affairs and public service her whole life. She has lived, worked, and volunteered in many countries including Senegal, France, Turkey, El Salvador, and Guatemala, and developed fluency in French and Spanish. She has worked for the Office for Global Women’s Issues at the US Department of State, UN OCHA, UN Women, and most recently, Glasswing International, a nonprofit dedicated to community resilience and violence prevention in Central America. She obtained a BA in International Relations and Comparative Literature from Brown University in 2016, and a Master's degree from the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs in 2017. Next fall, she will enroll at Columbia Law School, and is interested in studying international, human rights, and migration law. She looks forward to working with the Oxfam team on developing innovative legal strategies to defend the rights of migrants and refugees.